Forum Discussion

hgrabowsky's avatar
hgrabowsky
New Contributor
6 years ago

Excessive data usage by cox meter unexplained

Since half of May I see excessive data usage reporting by the Cox Orange County data usage meter.  Since June 1 I am measuring DPI (deep package inspection) on the Unifi USG router. So far, I measure 41 GBytes on the router, Cox measured 286 GBytes.  Yes, almost a factor of 7 difference.  I was out of town for 5 days, and each of these days Cox measured between 24 and 27 GBytes of usage.  At this rate 75% of my 1TB allocation will be allocated to usage I do not measure and which Cox is unwilling to verify. 

Since the discrepancy started half of May, after a planned cox outage, I suspect a programming issue.  Or perhaps they updated the meter. But my request for COX DPI or looking into it further, has been denied so far.  That is, unless I buy a total care package.  Really?  They claim my hardware is at fault, or I have too many devices, that somehow my wifi devices are not measured, etc.  Even though all my devices are measured and show up in my data reports.  After all, all data goes through the router.  None of them show a 25GBytes per day usage.

Does anyone else have this issue?

  • qkypgy's avatar
    qkypgy
    New Contributor II
    6 years ago

    I had the issue where the data meter was reporting about double what we actually used in our household, described here:

    https://forums.cox.com/forum_home/internet_forum/f/internet-forum/23247/data-usage-meter-is-showing-double

    I merely added up the daily usage comparing to the modem usage, and there was a huge discrepancy. Since I check on usage meter everyday, I contacted Cox right away. The live chat support person noticed the discrepancy as well and opened a ticket. A few days later the meter was fixed. Since then, I've been taking screenshot of the usage meter everyday.

    Not sure if we have the same issue, but in my case, it was clearly an issue on Cox's end because their own reporting was showing such different numbers. But I do feel a lot less confident about the accuracy of Cox meter numbers now.

    Doing more searches online and on the forum here, you will see discrepancy in Cox usage meter reporting is a common issue that seem to just pop up from time to time. 

  • hgrabowsky's avatar
    hgrabowsky
    New Contributor
    6 years ago

    Hello, here a quick update. 

    The fine support staff of Ubiquiti Networks reviewed my logs and identified my speed-test setting as a possible cause.  Unlike regular network traffic, speed-test data is generated by the UniFi USG router, and not included in the downstream traffic reports.  However, that data is included in the router's log. I switched off the auto speed test feature for now.

    I hope that this resolves the issue and my hopes are high.  Even though Cox data usage meter may be accurate, it seems to be mostly used as a billing tool.  It is unfortunate that Cox so far has been unwilling to assists in identifying usage issues by looking into the nature of the packets by for instance setting up a deep packet inspection.  Fortunately, Cox is quick in sending reminder emails at 85%, when you are about to exceed the data limit, so the overage bill does not come as a surprise regardless of the issue.

  • MariaL's avatar
    MariaL
    Moderator
    6 years ago
    Hi Hgrabowsky,

    Thank you for contacting us through Cox Forums. How the Cox Data Usage Meter Works:
    Cox customer connects to the Internet through a cable modem at the customer’s location, and from there data traffic travels over a local coaxial and Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) cable system to a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS). The traffic then continues through Cox’s network and into the Internet. The CMTS counts downstream and upstream traffic for each cable modem it serves. Downstream traffic flows from the Internet to the customer, and upstream traffic flows from the customer to the Internet. In short, usage information is coming from the cable modem.

    The Data Usage Meter has been tested for accuracy by Cox. Netforecast, an independent third party, has also provided an independent report verifying accuracy.

    www.netforecast.com/.../NFR5125_Cox_Internet_Usage_Meter_2016_Accuracy_Audit_Report.pdf

    The link provided below will assist with different online activities that will impact data usage:

    www.cox.com/.../how-online-activities-impact-data-usage.html

    Maria L.
    Cox Support Forum Moderator